Do surveillance cameras deter crime? DSA wants them for Seattle

Hey you, downtown on the streets of Seattle – you’re on live crime camera.

In a move to try to cut down on crime in the Pike-Pine corridor, the Downtown Seattle Association is trying to purchase four to six surveillance cameras and install them around a few alleys and streets in the area.

P-I reporter Scott Gutierrez reports that the organization hopes to assist Seattle police in monitoring troubled spots with real-time video when officers can’t be there. The surveillance system is intended to deter drug dealing, assaults and lewd behavior, said David Dillman, vice president of operations and services.

Of course, the cameras not only raise privacy issues they also spark debate about effective crime control.

“Surveillance cameras, we don’t think are the answer. They don’t get rid of crime, they simply move it from one area to the other,” said Doug Honig, spokesman for the ACLU of Washington.

“Our concerns are not so much an individual camera, but where this trend leads us as a society,” Honig said.

How do you feel about the use of the cameras on the streets of Seattle? Do you have concerns they might be misused or might infringe on privacy issues? Do you think they might work to deter crime in the area?